Thursday, February 18, 2010

The FIRST Haircut

Yeah, I know...some have been wondering when we were gonna get my hippie kid's hair cut finally.

Well let's just say that cutting off some of the sweetest strawberry-blonde ringlets you've ever seen was not an easy task. Most people never got to see just how precious they were since they looked best just after a bath or if I wet them. But as soon as we got in the car to go anywhere, those curls would get crazy messed up in his car seat and therefore most only saw the blah version of his hair.

Here's proof of some of those curls...

But when you see this...

...and this...

...all of that gorgeous hair in it's perfectly uncut and natural glory...

...you HAVE to admit that interfering with that beauty has to be difficult for a mother.

But Jude isn't a girl and I can't let his hair grow out indefinitely...especially since the back of his hair tends to be thicker and longer than the top, ending up with a mullety type thing. AND we live in an area that has strict rules for boys' haircuts once entering school.

So we decided that it was time.

And we would only trust the first cut to the woman that has been cutting Terry's hair (and sometimes mine) for years. She is the highest level cutter at the salon and though we paid much more than anyone should for a toddler's 5-minute haircut, we thought it was worth it for this first time around.

So he wasn't gung-ho about the cape and ripped it off immediately. Then he didn't want to stay in the seat. But like in every other situation where he doesn't want to do something that we want him to do, we just distracted him long enough to make it happen. Fortunately, since it was Fat Tuesday, there were Mardi Gras beads available for distraction. That pretty much did the trick.

So now he looks more like a boy. I obviously didn't let her cut too much off. I do still like the long, shaggy look. But I would like to avoid the comments in stores about the cute "little girl" I'm pushing around in the cart...despite the unmistakably boy outfits he wears.

So, aside from the rocky start with the haircut, he ended up doing pretty well overall. And they gave us a cute little "first haircut" certificate with a tiny bag to hold clippings of his hair.

I held out for over 20 months. It's hard to cut such beautiful hair unless it's necessary...something I think my mom (regarding my hair) and in the case of little boys, Astrid, can completely relate to.

On a totally unrelated note, I have to share Jude's newest development. He has some bristle blocks that he received for Christmas and until now, his interaction with them has usually been limited to watching us build things for him. But for the past few days, I have seen him sit for 15-20 mins or more at a time BUILDING things! He has so much patience with his creations...something I've also noticed while playing with his Mr. Potato Heads (yes, I said heads...as in 3...he has THREE...talk to my husband). But he will sit there and put them together and take them apart and put them together again. My daughter could never sit with something for that long when she was a toddler. She had no patience for such things. Shoot...neither did I. This is something new that I've seen mostly in boys while teaching pre-school. They will sit there with Lego blocks or something similar and just build...over and over again...and some of the most creative things ever at times! I was/am in awe of this behavior. And I'm so glad and amazed to see Jude already devising plans in his head and manipulating things to create something.

This morning though was the first time he made something that was SOMETHING and he knew it! He was sitting there for the longest time playing with those bristle blocks and then all of a sudden came running up to me with his creation...proudly announcing to me "BOAT!". I laughed with excitement for him...for it truly looked like a boat!

Oh, and I guess you now understand why I was so upset when I sent you with Dad in 5th grade to get your waist length hair "trimmed" and you came home with shoulder length hair. Very traumatic. Although, that was probably your decision at the time to do that and not Dad's.